Sometimes when I sit outside of Whole Foods by myself I tend to watch people walk up to the trash/recycling/compost bins and see their reaction to all the choices. It is a source of amusement for me. Some shoppers are very quick: recycle-recycle-trash-compost. They know where each item goes. And some just stand there looking bewildered as if the explanations are in Bulgarian. They slowly start to put something in the trash... then, stop, wait, maybe this is compost? Once in a while someone will hover over one of the bins, afraid to drop whatever they are holding in to the bins. As if an alarm will sound if trash ends up in the recycling. (I cut them some slack for the more recent composting phenomena, but when they get stuck on recycling...? I saw a movie about recycling in the tenth grade. It's not new.)
Recently, I was finishing some pasta and looking on as people tried to decipher the complex terrain of recyclable versus compostable when a woman came up next to me. She unscrewed a cap on a plastic-like bottle and poured a brown liquid into the compost. Then she tossed the bottle into the recycling and something else in the trash. Noticing I was observing her, she explained, "It was a protein drink that got passed on to me. A vegan, non-gmo, sugarless smoothie that was pretty awful."
I apologized for staring. Truthfully I was just impressed she got the various bins right.
She told me she lives in Las Vegas. I asked her how she liked Sebastopol. Good, bad, weird, wonderful, bizarre - people have different reactions to this town. But I have found it nearly always leaves an impression.
"Oh, I love it. I came four years ago to visit an old college roommate and have come back every summer since. It's a lovely area, interesting people."
Of course "interesting" could be interpreted in several different ways.
After chatting for a few minutes she mentioned the owners of the property where her friend rented a small house. "They are quite the characters. They teach classes, do workshops, I believe she used to run a massage school. And they also teach a couples tantric yoga class, which they invited me too. I'm not that good at yoga, but I told my friend I'd rather do it by myself, thank you very much."
"What kind of workshops do they teach?" I asked.
"It has something to do with finding inner peace, it incorporates different things. Meditation and something that is pretty new-agey that has to do with the brain. I read one of their pamphlets but I didn't really understand it." She paused. "Very charismatic people. My friend calls them the Sebastopol power couple. They even have matching cars, sky blue and dark red. They were telling me why that was symbolic but I can't remember why. Something about colors and emotions."
Out of curiosity, I asked what kind of car they owned.
She took a sip of a presumably non-vegan sugar-sweetened drink. "Prius."
Well, naturally.
Favorite line of the week:
"I am a Libra, and Libras don't believe in astrology."
Favorite license plate:
{heart symbol} DELITE
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